What happens to whistleblowers in Britain

Whistleblowers and hounding out

A particularly extreme but well hidden part of the epidemic of workplace abuse concerns the treatment of some whistleblowers - people who raise concerns over poor practice. These concerns can range from financial irregularities to the welfare, even the safety, of vulnerable people.

It is hard to believe, but there appears to be a common process that unscrupulous managers and organisations use to get rid of and silence whistleblowers. It is so hard for a whistleblower to believe that this process exists that by the time it dawns on them it is often too late. Frequently the hounding out process is almost complete before an individual becomes aware of the organised conspiracy and dirty tricks used against them.

Daniel Goleman on whistleblowing (Dated but still accurate and useful)

Why everyone should know about the Hounding Out Process

An important stage in ending every form of abuse in the past has been to expose the abuse. We need to let this form of abuser know that we know what they do. These dirty tricks should definitely form part of your list of unacceptable behaviours if your organisation implements our system to become an abuse free organisation.Knowing about the process described below might help you as an individual. If you think someone might be trying to hound you out of your job please get in touch and we will provide support. It might also be helpful for you to let the people trying to hound you out of your job know that you know what they are doing. Even printing out a copy of the Hounding Out Process and pinning it to a notice board might make them think again.Unscrupulous managers and HR consultants have got away with this process in the past because they have operated in a culture of ignorance: those of us it happened to didn't know such dirty tricks existed until it was too late.

THE HOUNDING OUT PROCESS

The best way to help you understand the process is to describe it from the unscrupulous manager, or HR consultant's, point of view. The list below is a tongue in cheek guide to how the process works. It might sound farfetched, even humorous. But it's not if you are the target. We now know many people who have been subjected to this process. Most are so traumatised they will never work again. All have experienced stress, anxiety and depression. Some are left with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some have battled suicidal thoughts.

HOW TO HOUND SOMEONE OUT OF THEIR JOBA 14 step guide

1. MAKE A DECISION TO DESTROY SOMEONE’S CAREER AND INCOMEThere are two good reasons for this. She might have concerns over practice - so the process is also known as how to deal with a whistleblower. Or you are jealous of her popularity and competence.

3. GET EXPERT HELPSome HR professionals are experts in this process. In America, perhaps in Britain as well, they call it, ‘the Dark Arts’. You might need to pay an HR consultant. This will be expensive. But you can blame it on the target. Explain that the expense is necessary to deal with a problem employee.

4. TRUMP UP A CHARGESearch everywhere for possible misdemeanours by this employee. Find something you can develop into disciplinary action. You will be able to find something on almost anyone. Be creative. For example, data protection is a good area to explore for mistakes. Almost everyone has sent something to a home PC to work on that contravenes data protection legislation. And be prepared to exaggerate or even manufacture evidence if necessary.

5. ISOLATECreate a divide between your target and friends and supporters in the office. Frighten everyone into thinking they could be next. Produce an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. Make everyone think their jobs are under threat and, if possible, that your target is to blame. Also win you target’s supporters over to your side with bribes, for example an increased salary or training opportunity. The best bribe is an offer of promotion; point out your target’s job will be available soon.

6. OSTRACISECommunicate as little as possible with your target. Exclude from meetings and discussions.

7. DISCIPLINEWhen you have succeeded in trumping up a good charge, initiate disciplinary action. Be as unspecific as possible about the charge. The less your target knows, the less likely she will be able to launch a successful defence.

8. EXCLUDEExclude your target from the office as soon as you start the disciplinary process. Make sure all other employees think they are not allowed to contact her in any way. Use an excuse like you don’t want your target to influence witnesses or contaminate evidence. This will contribute to your target's stress. See below.

9. STRESSYour target will have suffered from stress as soon as you announced the disciplinary action and she realised what you are trying to do. It is very common for targets to experience depression, anxiety, insomnia, weight loss and other physical and mental health problems. People who are very good at what you are doing have even managed to induce psychiatric symptoms requiring hospitalisation. Real experts have succeeded in driving a target to suicide. Whatever your target’s current stress level, now is the time to turn up the pressure. Your aim is to get her to give in and resign.

10. THE SELF FULFILLING PROPHECYUse any signs of stress as further evidence that this is a problem employee and so you are justified in taking disciplinary action. Also use any sign of stress to discredit the target’s whistleblowing and any suggestion she makes that you are deliberately trying to get rid of her.

11. REPEAT THE PROCESSIf your target survives the disciplinary action and is not sacked it is important that you press on. There will now be evidence of what you have been up to, so you have a second reason for getting rid of this employee. She is now a potential double whistleblower. She could expose the bad practice that led you to try to hound her out of her job in the first place; and she could now expose the attempt to hound her out of her job. So go back to Step 4. and trump up another charge.

12. DEALING WITH A GRIEVANCEAnother potential problem is that your target might take a grievance against you for trying to hound her out of her job. But this will not succeed no matter how much evidence there is. Why not? Because it will be investigated internally and your organisation is not going to want to find itself guilty of appalling abuse. So you can fix the whole process to make sure everything is covered up. And there’s a bonus here; your target might think, because there’s so much evidence, the grievance will succeed. But of course it won’t. So this will create even more stress.

13. AVOIDING A TRIBUNALAnother worry is that the investigation might not be internal. Your target might take you to an Employment Tribunal. But tribunals are time consuming, bureaucratic and daunting for targets. This is a system that favours you, not targets. And by this stage your target will hardly be able to remember her name, so is unlikely to be able to put together a complex legal case. But she might have a lot of evidence against you so it’s better to work towards theStep 14 option.

14. GAG YOUR TARGETBy this stage it is essential that you silence your target. No one must know what you have done. You might think signing a gagging clause is the last thing your target would do, but there are ways to achieve this. First, offer a bribe. Offer to make a payment to your target if she signs. Second, threaten further disciplinary action. By now there will be several of you whose careers will be ruined if word of what you have been up to leaks out, so you must all get together and invent more lies that can be dressed up into further disciplinary charges. Present these further charges in the scariest possible way. Make it clear that no matter how unjust, the disciplinary action will succeed and your target will be sacked. So she won’t get a reference and will never work again. Hopefully this will tip her stress level over the edge and she will give up the fight, resign and sign a Compromise Agreement with its important gagging clause.

You will have succeeded. You will have got away with illegal or unsafe practice or you will have got rid of a rival. You will also have wrecked someone's physical and mental health, career, income and life. But that is a small price to pay for covering up your inadequacies.

If you think you have been subjected to this process in the past, or if you think it might be happening to you now, please get in touch.

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